Oh Bruce Wayne.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011


UPDATE-- Bruce is out of surgery is doing really good. They did tell me that they didn't find any additional objects besides the one he passed this morning, so Ricky and I are going to have some serious questions as to why they elected to do the surgery anyways. I've read up on the "exploratory adominal surgery" that apparently is quite common and most of the time comes back negative or inconclusive. The vets do it simply to err on the side of caution and to rule out other problems becuase if they dont and they miss something, it could easily cause death. We are frusterated that this whole thing is gonna cost us $1400 (or more, final cost is not in yet), and is causing lots of discomfort and pain for Bruce, and still didn't tell us anything. When it's all said and done, all I want is my furbaby back to normal, healthy, and back at home with us.

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So, if you are friends with me on Facebook {if you aren't you should be!} I am sure you have noticed I've been posting about Bruce and his "emergency" trip to the vet. I've had a ton of people ask me what his status is, what happened, etc so I'll tell everyone here.

Yesterday morning, about 6 am I took him on a walk outside like normal. He vomited a little on his walk which sometimes he does if his belly is full of water and he runs around. I got him back to the house, and he continued to vomit off and on. Nothing he was throwing up was solid though, it was a white frothy/foamy liquid. He was walking really slowly and obviously did not feel good. We thought he just ate something that didn't agree with him and he would be fine. I went to work for a meeting I had to attend, and then asked to go home and check on my dog, which was fine by them. When I returned home, at first I couldn't find him. Usually he greets me at the door jumping up and down, but he wasn't there. I called for him and he didn't answer. My heart sank. 
This is how I found my baby.

I eventually found him in between the wall and the elliptical machine by the door. In the almost 3 hours since I had left he had gotten much worse. He was drooling like crazy (which he doesn't do at all normally) and from the small piles of foamy liquid all over the floor, he had not stopped throwing up.  I called the vet, they had an opening for 3 pm so I took it. During this time I tried to get him to drink water because I was pretty sure he was dehydrated and I made him plain rice and he wouldn't take anything, which is really unlike him. His condition worsened pretty rapidly and at about 12:30 pm, he was yelping every time he moved and then it turned into yelping while he wasn't moving too. I went to pick him up to hold him and felt his stomach was expanded and hard as a rock. When I held him in my arms he was basically completely limp, his upper body kind of hanging out of my arms like he had no strength to hold himself up. I grabbed my keys and ran out of the house immediately. I got Bruce in the car and he just laid on the backseat like he could care less where he was or what he was doing. I started crying of course because I thought, well this is it. He is gonna die. I drove to the vet's office and asked them where I should take him for an emergency visit because I thought he wasn't gonna make it to 3pm. They gave me a referral and I was gone. By the time I got back to the car Bruce was up on the armrest of the front seat staring at me. I sat in the car for a few minutes and watched him. He was walking around, still obviously sick, but would lay down in one spot for a few minutes, move and then lay there. He wasn't screaming out in pain anymore, so after talking with Ricky and my mom, I decided I was just gonna drive around with Bruce in the since he was more comfortable in here.
Laying on the front seat floor board.
My mom told me to go to Starbucks, get a coffee and wait it out, so I did. Bruce always wants to drink my coffee so I got a little cup of ice water for him. I let him see the cup with the lid on because I was trying to trick him into htinking he was getting something he normally would not. it worked and he started drinking the ice water.
He didn't drink a bunch, but he was drinking it. I decided to avoid a $3000+ emergency pet hospital bill and wait it out until 3, but keeping a close eye on him the entire time. I got to the vet about 2:30 and they took him right in. The vet pretty much knew right away that he probably had an obstruction of some sort, and they sent him for xrays.

The xrays showed he actually had two blockages, one in his small intestine and a larger one in his stomach. He needed surgery because of the risks of the foreign objects in his body and how sick he was.
We had to leave him overnight at the vet;s office so he could have an IV to get him hydrated as well as get some pain meds to make him more comfortable. I spoke with one of the nurses this morning right before 10 AM and she told me he actually did pass the object that was in his small intestine, but the large on in the stomach was not budging so they needed to take it out. We also elected to have him neutered at the same time to avoid anothoer surgery/recovery time.

I will update as soon as I hear he is OK. The vet told us yesterday it could take 3-4 hours and we are rapidly approaching hour number four. Needless to say my stomach is in knots.

2 comments:

  1. OMG Jess,

    You were so brave. I would have been yelling at the nurses to get him in right away. I'm sure you felt better once they found out what was wrong. Please keep us posted, I have no doubt he will be fine. It's amazing how good the vets are. Molli goes to Ridgetop Vets & they are super. She tore the ACL on her right leg last year & had to have surgery. It was a 3 1/2 hour ordeal & then 8 weeks of down time. Well, she goes in again this Friday because she tore the left ACL. I'm concerned about this time because of having two major surgeries so close together. They each cost about $2,700. Thank goodness we bought pet insurance when we first got her. Give me a call at 479-1719 or facebook me & I can give you the information on insurance. I hope by the time you read this Bruce is out of surgery & you can relax!

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  2. OMG. Poor little muffin! You're a good doggy Mommy! Good thoughts for the little guy!

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